Echelon walked, and he kept walking. Deeper and deeper, further and further away from the voices of JL and Ignitus. The cold and dim red light, the monolithic pillars, the gloom-filled passages and forbidding doorways around him were all familiar; he had walked these dark ways more than once before since Makuta left them. All was familiar in its black emptiness.
And yet, it was not without its irritations to the Dark Toa. Not least was the fact that the Toa Maru had got here before him, and purged Makuta's catacombs of all his old toys and trappings. The artefacts he could have scavenged, the things he could have learned...all gone to waste.
Another was the behaviour of the Rahkshi. Once such fearsome instruments of Makuta's will, now territorial beasts. They could have been such powerful allies; but with their guiding intelligence gone, he had as much reason to be wary of them as JL and his friends did.
For this reason, he was wont to make regular magnetic sweeps of his surroundings when roaming these levels of Mangaia, to ensure that he knew of any nearby threats, and he did so now.
And straight away, he detected something not far behind him. There was not enough metal, however, for it to be a Rahkshi; besides the Kraata, they were made entirely of the stuff. No, this felt like a being.
Echelon turned slowly, searching the shadows with his powers for his unseen follower.
"Come out," he said calmly.